Lumen earns Enabling Platform Leadership Award from Frost & Sullivan

One of the greatest technological achievements of the 20^th century was the implementation of the 9-1-1 emergency calling system. Serious work began in the 1960s, with steps taken by both the telecommunications industry and the combined efforts of local, state and federal governments throughout the ensuing decades. Since it is now just part of the infrastructure of communities, it is easy to forget that this achievement was based on analog networks that were nowhere near as capable as the digital technologies weaving communities together today.

The system has been keeping people safe for years and undergone incremental upgrades. It’s time, though, for more than an incremental upgrade. Next generation 9-1-1 (NG911) is rolling out across the nation. Lumen is proud and humbled to receive Frost & Sullivan’s “Enabling Platform Leadership Award” for our work to bring NG911 to states and localities on a platform basis, integrating the various technologies involved.

“New technologies have fundamentally changed the way we live, communicate, and interact,” said Frost & Sullivan vice president Brent Iadarola, “ushering in an array of new requirements and opportunities for public safety entities. In this environment, Lumen has developed a visionary platform designed to accommodate the next generation of public safety.”

Frost & Sullivan is a well-established business consulting and analyst firm with a 60-year history of helping their clients identify and act on growth opportunities. Their Enabling Platform Leadership Award recognizes the company that applies its platform in new ways to improve existing products and services and elevate the customer experience. We are proud they chose Lumen for this award for the way we have built a Next Generation 9-1-1 solution for our customers in the public sector.

NG911 aims to create a complete digital platform for public safety response, from the tools in the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP), through an IP-based high-speed network connecting those call-handling centers to the people in the community. Frost & Sullivan is quite insightful in recognizing the “platform” nature of NG911 with this award. NG911 is not a DIY or mom-and-pop shop proposition. The key to implementing NG911 is the integration of all the technologies that make it work, and then helping ensure it “just works” so the PSAP can focus on keeping people safe rather than troubleshooting a complicated set of technologies. Because our NG911 platform is built on top of the underlying Lumen platform of adaptive networking, edge cloud, connected security and collaboration services we can provide a holistic solution with security built in.

It has the potential to make everyone safer because it handles more data types and sources, giving first responders a lot more information through video, text and the integration of geographic information systems and other tools at the disposal of the PSAP. Because it’s IP-based, it will also scale into the future as new data devices and types are created. Lumen experts build that roadmap into the future.

With all that upside, many challenges must be addressed along the way. Since these systems are by definition local, it falls to state and local agencies to build these systems. Many don’t have the resources, whether that’s up-front funding or even the IT people to manage all the pieces. Lumen has changed the cost model for all these jurisdictions, making it possible for multiple jurisdictions to share systems through advanced call-routing technologies and changing the ownership model so they can pay on a usage basis rather than purchasing everything up-front. We also can manage the integrated platform for them, so they can put their money toward first responders rather than network managers. We’re gratified Frost & Sullivan recognized the importance of this flexibility as part of their award.

Check out the full details of the Frost & Sullivan Enabling Platform Leadership Award. When you’re done, please read some of our NG911 case studies from around the nation.

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